{"id":16239,"date":"2013-07-31T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=16239"},"modified":"2013-07-30T20:32:54","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T00:32:54","slug":"lcms-convention-post-mortem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/07\/lcms-convention-post-mortem\/","title":{"rendered":"LCMS convention post mortem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The convention of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is over.\u00a0 There were no big controversies.\u00a0 Virtually all of the resolutions passed, overwhelmingly, and those that didn\u2019t were defeated overwhelmingly.\u00a0 No challenges to Lutheran orthodoxy even came up.\u00a0 The delegates were pretty much all on the same conservative page.\u00a0 After the jump, Lutheran journalist Mollie Hemingway writes about the difficulty religion reporters have in covering a church convention that is peaceful and non-contentious.<\/p>\n

But surely what didn\u2019t<\/em> happen is huge news for Lutherans.\u00a0 To be sure, issues remain, but could it be that the LCMS is getting unified again?<\/p>\n

Were any of you there?\u00a0 Please report.<\/p>\n

From Mollie Hemingway, News crisis: when people agree (Lutheran edition)<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Unlike previous conventions featuring narrow vote margins, nearly every resolution here was passing with huge margins \u2014 whether the topic was checks and balances of seminary faculty hiring, proper administration of the sacraments, review of non-seminary pastoral training programs, lay deacons, campus ministries, or other items. There\u2019s interesting subtext there \u2014 we\u2019re definitely in a new era in the LCMS, but it\u2019s pretty tough to explain briefly. Which is probably why the St. Louis Post-Dispatch keeps publishing stories about how the Synod handled a First Commandment issue last year relating to syncretism, or worship with non-Christians at an interfaith worship service in Newtown, CT. (\u201cMono-maniacally obsessed\u201d was how I heard one delegate refer to the reporter\u2019s focus on the topic. \u201cTell him to get off the Newtown template,\u201d was what another said. Consider it done.)<\/p>\n

But you try to come up with something interesting to say about a huge convention taking place in your backyard when everyone is operating in peace and love (sadly, that might actually be big news when it comes to our church body and others \u2026). . . .<\/p>\n

I think the declaration of formal fellowship with the Lutheran churches in Liberia, Siberia and Togo were a big story<\/a> from this convention. And these \u201cencouraging\u201d resolutions \u2014 which will force my church body to have some tough discussions about doctrine \u2014 are easy to pass with huge margins. Whether those discussions will result in some tough decisions down the line is another thing.<\/p>\n

Lower in the story we get some notes on non-seminary training of pastors and whether seminaries should restore the checks and balances on hiring that they had until 3 years ago (the Lutherans voted to restore that check). It was one of the more contentious debates and closer votes. Still, it passed 61 percent to 39 percent. That would have been a landslide vote in the old days. . . .<\/p>\n

But I think this post-convention story is also a great case study in how difficult it is to cover non-political religious bodies, particularly those not embroiled in sexy debates about ordination or interpretation of Biblical passages on sexual morality. As one of my editors once told me, \u201ccontinue\u201d is not a very exciting verb for a lede.<\/p>\n

News is about drama. I\u2019ve been to our recent conventions. They were nothing but drama. We had a president who would barely get re-elected and debates so tense that you could feel it in your body. There were lots of serious debates full of theological subtext \u2014 did we want to be a church body that retained its Lutheran identity? Did we want to adopt a more American approach? Were our doctrines on communion, the Office of Holy Ministry, etc. in need of revision? What were the theological implications of reorganizing our national headquarters? We still have those debates. The current administration and district presidents seem to want to work on handling those debates in a less contentious manner \u2014 through discourse and open engagement. From the votes of our Synod, it\u2019s clear that this is being largely well received by the clergy, church workers and laypeople \u2014 but it makes for very difficult news writing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See also the account by Charles Henrickson<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The convention of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is over.\u00a0 There were no big controversies.\u00a0 Virtually all of the resolutions passed, overwhelmingly, and those that didn\u2019t were defeated overwhelmingly.\u00a0 No challenges to Lutheran orthodoxy even came up.\u00a0 The delegates were pretty much all on the same conservative page.\u00a0 After the jump, Lutheran journalist Mollie Hemingway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1340],"class_list":["post-16239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","tag-lutheran-church-missouri-synod"],"yoast_head":"\nLCMS convention post mortem<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The convention of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is over.\u00a0 There were no big controversies.\u00a0 Virtually all of the resolutions 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